Should I feed my dog or cat tinned fish?

We recommend feeding raw fish to your cat or dog up to three times a week. We have lovely whole, frozen pilchards, and NZ farmed salmon in our stores. We no longer stock hoki, as we are concerned at the high level of by-catch, and its impact on endangered species of dolphins.

Some people add tinned fish to their pets diet. This is fine - it can be a great source of nutrients, but there are a few things to consider when buying tinned fish for your cat or dog:

Heavy Metals

Mercury is a very toxic heavy metal that enters the ocean from natural and industrial sources. It is converted to a toxic form by bacteria and then ingested by phytoplankton, which are ingested by little fish, and then by big fish, and so on up the food chain. This means that bigger fish have a higher mercury content, and present a greater risk to the humans (or pets) that ingest it. For this reason we suggest aiming for fish that are lower down the food chain than tuna, such as sardines.

Oils

Unfortunately, many tinned fish have vegetables oils added to them (canola, sunflower, soybean etc). These oils are highly processed, and inflammatory. We suggest only choosing options in spring water.

Which tinned fish should I choose?

We prefer sardines. Choose a brand with only two ingredients: sardines and spring water. We like this one. It is available at specialty and organic stores in New Zealand. Salmon is also a good choice.